Chapter 94: Conspiracy of four gangs

Chapter 94: Conspiracy of four gangs"No!!!!"

The remaining robbers were shocked to see their leader suddenly killed. It happened so fast that, for a moment, they couldn’t even process the scene.

But they quickly came to their senses and roared, "Run!"

Immediately, the nine remaining robbers ran in different directions to save their lives.

Apollo calmly watched the fleeing men and didn’t stop them. Instead, he said to Reid, "I will be back in a few minutes, so don’t leave this place."

After saying that, he seemed to disappear into thin air, leaving only Reid and the semi-frozen, talkative robber behind.

He appeared at the top of the tallest tree nearby, and a soul-shattering bow materialized in his hand as he closed his eyes.

Apollo remained still for a moment, then instantly opened his eyes, firing multiple ice arrows into the sky.

All the robbers who were running away suddenly felt a chill down their spines, but they didn’t see anyone behind them.

"Damn! I almost died," one of the robbers cursed, running with all his might, feeling he was this close to death.

But just as he was feeling relieved that Apollo wasn’t pursuing him, an ice arrow carrying a soul-freezing aura descended from the sky, piercing him and instantly freezing him like an ice sculpture.

"What!!!..."

He could only utter a word before he froze into oblivion in a matter of seconds.

A similar fate befell the other robbers who were running away, momentarily relieved at their survival. In a fraction of a second, they were dead.

Afterwards, Apollo disappeared and returned to the place where Reid was waiting. Seeing Apollo come back, Reid felt relieved. Even though he knew it wasn’t a problem for Apollo to kill those robbers, unexpected dangers could still arise in the Thousand Mountain Forest, filled with mighty beasts and mysteries.

After coming back, Apollo looked at the only surviving member of the robbers. He had left this one alive because the man talked a lot, and Apollo needed to know the origin of the robbers, where they came from, their plans, and the name of their force.

"You’re the lucky one, the sole survivor. So why show panic and fear? You survived because I prefer talkative guys who tell me everything."

"You’d tell me everything, wouldn’t you?"

Apollo looked at the semi-frozen robber, who couldn’t move or speak and might have sh*t himself if most of his body wasn’t frozen.

He looked at the guy and remembered that he couldn’t talk because of his ice life force. Apollo immediately made his move and dissipated the energy within him.

As the chilling energy disappeared, the robber’s face became rosier, and he quickly regained control over his body and was able to move.

"I will tell you everything! Please don’t kill me, please..." The moment he regained control, he started to beg, not caring about anything else. He even bowed his head to the ground, not wanting to die.

Apollo smiled, feeling confident that he hadn’t spared the wrong person.

"Then tell me, which force do you belong to, and how strong is the strongest person?"

"We are members of the Red Fire Gang. We usually hunt lone hunters or warriors who come to the Thousand Mountain Forest."

"Wait, what? Did you say the same Red Fire Gang that’s one of the four major gangs in Hunter City?"

Apollo quickly interrupted upon hearing the name, as it was the name of the other gang. Is his luck really so good that he has already encountered two gangs so quickly, or is there something else at play?

"Yes, we are from one of the major gangs in the city," he admitted quickly, hoping that revealing this information might change Apollo’s mind and let him go. But it seemed to have no effect, as Apollo asked him to continue.

"Why the hell do you need corpses?" Apollo demanded.

"I don’t know why, but it all started four months ago when the leader suddenly ordered us to kill as many warriors as we could and bring their bodies," he confessed.

"Although we all complied, it was surprising that the other four gangs also started doing the same thing, resulting in the deaths of numerous rogue warriors. But two weeks ago, the leader ordered us to hunt even more, targeting stronger warriors and even weaker nobles."

"Many were afraid because killing nobles, even minor ones, could bring destruction upon us. But the leader mercilessly slaughtered anyone who questioned his decisions. That’s why we targeted you, as it seemed you were just a young noble kid who came alone."

He quickly told Apollo everything he knew about what had happened in the last four months and then waited for Apollo’s reaction.

Hearing this, Apollo’s expression darkened. It seemed that not only the Saber Tiger Gang but all four gangs were hunting warriors. And they appeared to be growing crazier over time, now even starting to attack nobles.

Had the leaders of the four gangs gone mad? How dare they try to mess with nobles? Attacking a small noble once or twice might not create much havoc, but if it became dozens or hundreds, it would be a serious matter.

The Aristocratic Association might take this as a declaration of war on the nobles. Not to mention, even hundreds of such gangs wouldn’t be opponents of the Aristocratic Association, which comprised nobles from all over the human kingdoms.

No matter how you looked at it, there was something wrong with the behaviour of the four gang leaders. Most importantly, the need for corpses could only be related to necromancy or some dark rituals performed by dark mages.

Could there be a dark mage or a necromancer behind this? He couldn’t figure that out with just this information, but since they had started to make such big moves, they must be desperate. The authorities in the city should have also begun to notice this weird behaviour of the gangs.

"How strong is your gang leader?" Apollo quickly asked.

"The leader was previously at the peak of the second rank limit-breaker, but two weeks ago he showed power many times stronger than before, which led us to believe that he has broken through his third limit and become a third rank limit-breaker master," the robber from the Red Fire Gang answered quickly. His life and death were in Apollo’s hands, and he didn’t want to make him angry.

"Third rank limit-breaker, huh..." Apollo mused.

He started to think about what to do. Should he take care of it or not? Although a third rank master is strong, an ordinary third rank master isn’t his opponent. He could handle it, but who knows if there’s someone behind this and what their strengths are? It would be a huge risk to tackle it alone.

The other three gang leaders should have the same strength, as they also showed the same behaviour, so they should have also reached the third rank master level.

He held back and decided not to take action, at least not for now. Instead, he planned to ask his master to notify the city hall and the hunter branch.

For now, he would focus on his swordsmanship and understanding his sword aura. By combining it with his different laws and divine energy, he should become stronger than his master and most fourth rank grandmasters.

Meanwhile, in the Red Fire Gang’s secret hideout, five people gathered together. Four of them were the gang leaders of the four strongest gangs in Hunter City, and the last one was a mysterious figure with an eerie dark aura.

If Apollo were there, he would notice that this person had a similar aura to the death beasts he faced in the ruins near his family’s Fletcher estate.

"Master, we have already collected more than four thousand bodies, including two dozen limit-breakers," the leader of the Red Fire Gang said, bowing along with the other three gang leaders before the mysterious figure.

"We still need to gather five thousand more in a month," the mysterious person ordered with an eerie voice and without any emotion.

"But others have already started to notice. If we increase our killings, we will definitely be caught, and our master plan will be hindered," one of the gang leaders voiced their concern.

"You don’t have to think about that. Take this and disperse it around the city," the mysterious figure said, producing a strange potion bottle and handing it to the four gang leaders. "Two weeks later, on the full moon night, it will give you the chance to hunt more humans."

The gang leaders carefully took the potion bottle, their expressions filled with fanaticism, and accepted their mission.

"Now, go and bring me my body in a month, " the mysterious figure concluded.

After the four gang leaders disappeared, leaving the mysterious figure alone, he murmured to himself in the darkness as if speaking to someone, "This time, I will finally reach that step, and nobody can stop me."